A Sweet Mistake
by JRCash
Summary: A morning mishap by Leia leads to an evening where she can forget about her troubles for a few hours and spend some time with Han and Luke. One shot story.


Short little one shot. Set post ROTJ, in no particular part of time other then that, just a random day...

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I do not profit from this is any way, shape or form._**

Leia stirred the contents of the bowl and took a small spoonful to her mouth. The oatmeal was mild and comforting as she swallowed it. _Something warm for once is so much better then another rations bar for breakfast_ she thought to herself. She took the spoon and stirred her breakfast again, noticing that there was a pool of honey near the edge of the bowl that hadn't been incorporated. She took another bite, this time almost wincing at the taste. The honey had made her breakfast sickeningly sweet. Her lips pursed as she forced herself to swallow the second bite. A slightly spicy after taste was left in her mouth, the sweetness lingering on her lips and she returned the spoon to the bowl. She wondered if somehow the ingredients she had found in the galley had gone bad. _No_ , she thought to herself, _I doubt that is the case._ She would meticulously check expiration dates on items before leaving for missions so they weren't stuck eating re-hydrated rations because something had gone bad. _That bottle of honey was all the way in the back of the cabinet though…_

She got up from the table, bowl in hand, to return to the galley to find something else to eat. Upon entering the galley, she noticed Han pouring himself a cup of caf, lazily leaning back against the counter, his hair ruffled with bed head. His broad torso was shirtless and a wrinkled pair of blood stripes hung from his waist, his bare feet sticking out from the bottom of them.

"Morning sweetheart" he said as she walked past, leaning forward slightly to kiss her hair as she walked past him. Leia smiled back at him as she opened the trash bin and began scraping the contents of her bowl into it.  
"What are you doing?" Han asked. "You can't just be throwing away our food on my ship".  
"I think I used something expired in this, some strange honey I found in the back of the cabinet" she replied. "It made it too…sweet…like…disgustingly sweet and kind of spicy. It was the strangest thing".  
"Honey?" Han questioned, half to himself, half to her. He didn't recall having any jars of honey stocked anywhere on his ship. Leia had been the one to do inventory of the galley last, so maybe she knew something he didn't.

He turned to the cabinets him behind him and pulled open the door, his eyes searching the food stock for what Leia could have possibly used.  
"Show me what you put in your breakfast" he asked.  
Leia placed her empty bowl in the sink and walked over next to him. She saw it on the top shelf, a small rounded jar with a peeling label with old writing on it.  
"That's it" as she pointed to it.  
"How'd you even manage to get this up here?" Han asked, as he easily grabbed the bottle from the highest shelf.  
She laughed. _I climbed on the counter like a little kid looking for sweets_ she thought to herself. She liked when he poked fun at the height difference between them.

Han turned the jar in his hand, the tattered label now turned upwards. He looked at it and his index finger ran across the words, printed in dark ink.  
"Old Corellian" he whispered "You don't see that printed on things much anymore". He smiled towards Leia, his eyes leaving the jar and focusing on her.  
"You know what this is?" he asked. Leia shook her head no.  
"This is Corellian ryshcate syrup". It's supposed to be used in desserts. You can add it to cheap whiskey if you want…well… if you want to end up really hating yourself the next morning. It cuts the liquor, making it a little easier to shoot it down straight. I can't believe this is even still up here. Lando and I used mix this stuff in all kinds of liquor when we were young and dumb".

Leia smiled. "Oh gods. Well I was totally wrong then wasn't I?" she laughed. "It looked just like the honey we had on Alderaan. I loved that stuff".

Leia's naiveté's to things that were typical to Han bothered her sometimes. She felt like a silly child when it came to certain things, this was a prime example of that. Her upbringing taught her many things about the galaxy: rules, customs, traditions of other planets and people. Not drinking games or how to make cheap whiskey burn less when trying to consume as much as possible in an evening. She didn't get the opportunities to experience things a normal teenager would have had experienced. Not to say she never stole sips of drinks at royal functions when her father wasn't looking, just to see what the fuss was about. But, she had never experienced enough to wake up the morning after with stories to tell or a pounding headache from the night before. She knew how to get two planets to sign trade agreements and treaties with each other, but not how to get drunk and win a freighter in a card game.

That evening, Han, Leia and Luke sat around the holochess table in the Falcon. Han sat across from Leia, leaning back slightly, his legs outstretched under the table. They had finished dinner an hour beforehand, but the conversation had continued far after C3PO had cleared the plates from the table for them. Han had just finished recounting the story of Leia's mistake from the morning. Luke's face was red from laughter. Still struggling to quell his laughing, Luke said "On Tatooine, there was this real cheap stuff that you could get in Mos Eisley, no age related questions asked if you knew the right place to look. That stuff could make you blind! At least you Corellians thought up of something to make it more bearable".  
Han laughed back at Luke. "Corellians are used to the good stuff. So when you've got to make due, we've at least got some help".  
Leia was smiling from the re-telling of her mistake, but inside of her, she felt a slight sadness. _Even my brother who grew up on a planet full of sand has had more fun then me._

"What about you, Leia?" Luke asked, glancing next to him at his sister. " Didn't you and your friends ever steal a bottle of something?"  
Leia looked at her brother. "Not really, no. I was too busy working. Everyone at political events knew I wasn't old enough to drink, so nothing ever was offered to me". Luke snickered. "Not like that. More like you and your friends sneaking off somewhere, doing stupid things late at night?".  
Leia looked down at her hands. She felt a lump in her throat, but swallowed it down before replying "I didn't have friends as a teenager, Luke." "I was"…she paused, trying to hold back tears, "I was a princess who had very little time for anything fun".  
Luke sensed her sadness and reached out his arm and placed it around her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that". Leia sniffed her nose, wiped away a tear that had escaped and looked up at Luke. "It's okay, Luke. I just tried to forget at the time that every other teenager in the galaxy could go out and do as they pleased and I had to focus on being a proper princess".

Han shifted across the table from Leia and Luke, noting the sadness in Leia's face brought on by Luke's questions.  
"Why don't we play a game? Act like stupid kids again for a night?" he asked. "You deserve to have a little fun for once, princess".  
Luke caught Han's drift. "We're your friends, Leia. I think Han has a point. Let's give you a chance at some fun you didn't have as a teenager".  
Leia laughed, the lump that was in her throat softening. "You guys are my brother and my boyfriend…and none of us are teenagers anymore".  
Luke looked towards Han "You got a deck of cards? And a bottle of something?".  
Han chuckled as he rose from the table "Who do you think I am, kid? Of course I do".

Han disappeared down the hallway to collect the items needed. He opened the door of his bunk and stooped down to a drawer next to the bed. He slid it open and pulled out a deck of sabacc cards, well worn around the edges and a pair of dice. He stood up again and opened a cabinet in the wall. He pushed a jumble of unfolded clothes aside and reached to the back of the shelf to pull out a bottle of Corellian whiskey.

Returning to the table, Han placed the cards, the dice and the bottle on table. Luke had gotten up to retrieve glasses for the group. He walked in from the galley with three small glasses and placed one in front of the each of them.  
Luke then sat back down and looked at Han "So what do you think we should teach her to play? Womp rat?".  
Han chuckled as he opened the bottle, filling each of their glasses with the dark liquor. "Womp rat? Is that what you desert dwellers call Corellian asshole on your side of the galaxy?".  
Luke picked up the cards from the table and began to shuffle them in his hands. "Alright, alright, why don't you teach her a game that you know the best then. I remember the basics of sabacc, it'll come back to me as we go I'm sure".

Leia looked at the whiskey in the glass in front of her. Han and Luke had raised there glasses and she picked hers up, joining them with a sharp clink as Han declared "to a good night for the princess!". She paused for a moment as she watched Han and Luke take a deep gulp from their own glasses. She put the glass to her lips. It smelled strong, a deeply spicy smell. She held her breath and took a sip. The warmth filled her mouth, her lips stinging from the amber liquid. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed, the whiskey burning the back of her throat as it went down.  
"Oh gods!" she sputtered as she set her glass back down on the table. Her face had scrunched up, her eyes slightly watering. "That is strong!" she exclaimed.  
Her face began to relax, her stomach still slightly burning from the whiskey.  
She opened her eyes and Han was grinning at her from across the table. "Sorry princess, I don't have anything that's going to be gentler on this ship for you".  
She could hear Luke laughing next to her. "Why don't you get that "honey" for her?" Luke suggested. Leia playfully punched Luke in the arm. "Real funny Luke. I'm never going to live that down am I?".  
Han rose from the table and stepped into the galley, quickly finding the jar of ryshcate syrup. He returned to the table and sat back down, reaching across the table for Leia's glass. He opened the jar and let a small amount of the syrup drizzle out into the whiskey before tilting the jar upright again to stop the flow.  
He handed the glass back to Leia. "Swirl it for a bit" he instructed. "It'll take the edge off and make it easier to drink. You might even learn to like Corellian whiskey with that in it".  
Leia swirled the drink in her hand as Han had instructed her to do so, watching the syrup slowly dissolve into the whiskey. She noticed that the strong smell of the liquor wasn't as noticeable now. She raised the glass to her lips again, slightly wincing as she remembered the burn of her first taste. She took another sip, expecting the worst. She relaxed as soon as the liquid rolled across her tongue. It was sweet, the drink taking on a whole new flavor.  
She swallowed and smiled. "I actually like it now!" she exclaimed.

Han called C3P0 into the room. He rarely wanted the droid around and usually hated his presence on his ship, but in order to properly play sabacc, the group needed an impartial dealer for the cards. C3PO stood next to Han.  
"You know anything about Corellian spike, golden rod?" Han asked the droid.  
"Sir, I'm fluent in over six million forms of communication, but I don't understand what you are asking of me".  
Han rolled his eyes. "Can you deal cards, 3PO? Or do I have to flip some kind of special switch on you to get you do that?".  
"Of course, sir. I don't know the rules of the game but I can distribute you cards as need be".  
"Thank you" Han replied, a layer of sarcasm laying thick over his words.

Leia's head swirled with the names and meanings of each card, her brain trying to compute quick enough the values of the cards that she could barely remember in the first place. _High or low? Wait…or do I split the difference? How do I know what move to make?_ Han had quickly briefed her in the game basics, telling her she would pick it up as they played. Luke seemed to have a general knowledge of the game, picking up quickly on the differences he was unfamiliar with or had forgotten about as they played. Leia took another sip of her drink. _This whiskey is starting to make my head swim more then the cards are_ she thought.

A hour or so had passed. Leia folded her cards and placed them on the table. She was out this again round, her and Luke had been loosing repeatedly to Han. Luke was still going in this game though and she could tell Luke was started to get drunk.  
"Now that's its just us left, let's make this round interesting" Luke suggested. "How about you put a bet on the table, Han? Maybe the Falcon?".  
Han howled with laughter. "Not in the seven levels of hell, kid. How about whoever looses this round has to clean the 'fresher tomorrow. Not any 'fresher on the ship either. Chewie's 'fresher. Gotta get the drain clean too". Han added.  
Luke glanced at the cards in his hand and then back towards Han. "Deal".

Leia chuckled at Han and Luke's bet. She sipped her drink again and was beyond glad she was no good at this game. _She could only imagine having to clean Wookie fur out of a drain._

Minutes later, Luke slammed his cards down on the table and let out a loud groan. He had lost the game to Han. Han leaned back in his chair, kicking a boot up on the table and taking a long sip of his whiskey. "Looks like your cleaning up after a Wookie tomorrow, kid". Luke's elbows rested on the table, his head buried in his palms. "Good game, Han…good game" Luke guffawed thru his fingers.

Leia stretched in her seat and yawned. Their conversations had lasted well past the last game of sabacc and into the wee hours of the morning. The bottle of whiskey stood in the middle of the table, nearly empty at this point. Han noticed Leia's yawn and drained the last bit of remaining liquid in his glass.  
"It's probably time to call it a night, what'da you say?".  
Leia quietly nodded and looked over to Luke. His hair was dishelved and his face was red, a mixture from laughing with the group for so long and from the amount of whiskey he had consumed. Luke stood from the table, taking a moment to find his footing under him.  
"You can stay in the extra bunk tonight, kid" Han stated, as he rounded the table to grab onto Luke's arm, helping him steady himself. Leia also rose from her chair, noticing as she stood, her head rushed. She placed a hand on the table and took a deep breath.  
"You weren't kidding when you said that the ryshcate syrup would make the whiskey go down easy".  
Han began to walk with Luke to the extra bunk, Leia a few paces behind them. She saw Han step into the bunk with Luke and his voice say "Get some sleep, you're gonna be hurtin' tomorrow".  
Han's figure reappeared in the hall as the door to Luke's room hissed shut behind him. Han took Leia's hand.  
"You feeling alright, sweetheart?". "Yes, she replied, I'm just really tired now".

Han and Leia entered their bunk together and Leia immediately lay down on the bed. Her head fell into the soft pillows and her body seemed to spin beneath her. Han pulled his shirt off over his head and then lay down next to her. She rolled to her side to face him, her head resting on his bare chest. His large arm wrapped around her. He smelled strongly of whiskey, she could smell it on his breath as he exhaled softly above her. He kissed the top of her head. Leia looked up at Han.  
"Thank you" she whispered.  
"For what?" Han asked.  
"For tonight. For just letting me have some fun for once". Leia replied, her eyelids growing heavy.  
"You deserve to have a little fun, sweetheart. I'm sorry you didn't get to do this sooner".  
"Me too" she sighed as sleep washed over her.


End file.
